Kathmandu, Jan. 11 -- Kunchang Ghale had no immediate plans of returning to Nepal. After working in Iraq for nearly six years, Ghale only planned to return home during Dashain to celebrate the festival with his family in Gorkha.

But the sudden and dramatic escalation of tensions in the Middle East has turned Iraq into a battlefield between the United States and Iran. In retaliation for killing Qasem Soleimani, commander of Iran's elite Quds Force, in an airstrike in Baghdad last week, Iran had fired more than a dozen missiles at two US airbases. The Ayn al Asad, one of the two airbases attacked by Iran, housed nine Nepali workers, all of whom are safe.

While there are rising fears over whether the conflict will escalate, most Nepalis in...